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● Former Mayor Justin Altmann and council candidate Keith Singer were convicted for failing to file mandatory campaign financial statements after the 2022 municipal election.
● Each was fined $10,000 plus a 25 percent victim surcharge following guilty pleas entered May 28, 2025.
● Agreed Statements of Fact emphasized the seriousness of the offence and its potential to erode public trust in local democracy.
● The compliance audit and prosecution process cost the Town approximately $135,000, including an audit of Ward 1 candidate Juliet Deonarain, who did not face legal action.
● Both candidates are now ineligible to run in the 2026 municipal election due to their failure to file.
● Altmann and Singer told Bullet Point News they had no plans to return to Stouffville politics and wished to keep their donors anonymous.
Former Mayor Justin Altmann and Ward 2 council candidate Keith Singer have been convicted of offences under Ontario’s Municipal Elections Act. The charges followed their failure to submit financial disclosure statements after their 2022 election campaigns.
According to a Town of Stouffville press release, both individuals entered guilty pleas on May 28, 2025, in Provincial Offences Court at the Ontario Court of Justice in Newmarket. Justice of the Peace Clark imposed a $10,000 fine on each, plus a 25 percent victim fine surcharge.
Both men pleaded guilty on the basis of Agreed Statements of Fact, which emphasized the essential role that campaign financial reporting plays in preserving public confidence in the electoral process.
“The Agreed Statements of Fact noted the offences… were serious, as they preface the erosion of public trust and confidence in local democracy,” said Commissioner of Corporate Services and Town Clerk Becky Jamieson in comments to Bullet Point News. She added that the Statements also recognized mitigating factors, including early pleas and an acknowledgment of wrongdoing.
“Pleas were entered on one count for each defendant,” Jamieson explained. “The independent prosecutor concluded in his independent discretion that it was not necessarily in the public interest to proceed with other counts in light of the guilty pleas, the totality of the circumstances, and the fact that the parties arrived at joint submissions on penalty.”
The convictions mark the end of a formal compliance audit process that began in June 2023 at the request of local resident Paul Greenhalgh. Stouffville’s Joint Compliance Audit Committee ordered audits of the Altmann and Singer campaigns after both decided against submitting the required Form 4.
That mandatory public document outlines campaign donations, expenditures, and account balances. As a result of missing the March 2023 filing deadline, both men were deemed ineligible to seek office in Stouffville’s 2026 municipal election.
Through the audit, Altmann was found to have largely self-funded his campaign. His outside contributions were within the legal $1,200 limit, and no spending violations were identified. The campaign spent less than $20,000, and Altmann’s sole infraction was his failure to file.
The auditor noted that Singer ran a modest campaign, accepting individual donations of $300 or less and collecting less than $3,000. However, his use of a personal bank account rather than a dedicated campaign account, as is required by law, was flagged as a serious compliance breach.
While neither audit found direct evidence of illicit financial activity, the Committee unanimously voted to initiate legal action against both individuals in October 2023. As stipulated by the Municipal Elections Act, the Town was responsible for covering the investigation, legal, and administrative costs.
“For the 2022 Municipal Election, the Town incurred approximately $135,000 in expenses relating to the entire compliance audit process, which included expenses for the meetings of the Joint Compliance Audit Committee, the cost of three compliance audits, legal services and training to support the Committee, and the prosecutions,” Jamieson said.
Included in that total was the audit of Ward 1 candidate Juliet Deonarain, whose 2022 campaign violated election rules by accepting corporate donations. However, the Committee deemed her breaches minor and opted not to pursue legal action. Her audit was estimated to have cost approximately $5,000.
“The Town does not intend to seek recovery of its expenses, nor is that the practice in this context,” added Jamieson.
Speaking to Bullet Point News on Wednesday, Mayor Iain Lovatt said any move to pursue cost recovery from Altmann and Singer would require direction from Council. “At this point, it’s not on a future agenda, but I will be talking with our CAO about it,” he said.
In October 2023, Lovatt had indicated an intention to seek reimbursement. “We have no option to not follow through with the [Committee’s] orders,” he said at the time. “A [Council] motion will be forthcoming directing Staff to seek repayment of costs.”
Before the court proceedings, both Altmann and Singer told Bullet Point News they had no intention of returning to municipal politics. They viewed their disqualification as a way to ensure a clean break from future candidacy.
“I was not interested in running for Stouffville again, and if I filed I would be tempted to do so,” Altmann said. “By not filing, I can move on from Stouffville onto new ventures with no temptations.”
“By not filing, I have made sure that I will not be tempted to run in the next election. I love Stouffville, however, I can’t continue to watch it decline and be financially ruined,” Singer said. “Therefore, stepping away is the best thing for me and my family.”
Both men also said their decision to forgo filing was partly motivated by a desire to protect the privacy of their campaign donors. Because Form 4 statements are public documents, filing would have disclosed donor names.
Bullet Point News attempted to reach both Altmann and Singer for further comment but did not receive responses by time of publication.
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